1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a recording medium setting device having a function of arranging unevenly-stacked recording media in order, the recording media being set by a user and including sheets etc., and an image forming apparatus having the recording medium setting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a copier, a facsimile machine, a multifunction peripheral, etc., generally includes a sheet setting device, as a recording medium setting device, on which sheets are stacked. In order words, an image forming apparatus generally includes, for example, a sheet feeding cassette on which sheets are set or a draft tray on which drafts to be read are set.
Further, such sheet setting device generally includes a pair of (i.e., two) movable guide members (side fences) facing each other that are provided for arranging the sheets (e.g., print sheets or drafts to be read) which are set thereon and detecting the size of the sheets.
The movable guide members (side fences) move in a manner such that one guide member and the other guide member move in conjunction with each other and the moving direction of the one guide member is opposite to the moving direction of the other guide member in the sheet width direction (which is orthogonal to the sheet supply direction or the sheet feeding direction). Further, the guide members are generally moved (operated) manually by a user. However, to simplify (help) the user's operation, there are known guide members that can be moved automatically. Namely, Japanese Patent No. 3969215 discloses a control method in which when drafts are set, a pair of (i.e., two) guide members are automatically moved in the direction so that the guide members approach each other. Then, when the guide member(s) is in contact with the draft(s) (sheet(s)), the movement of the guide members is stopped.